The textile industry is very exciting and diverse with the potential of jobs in lots of different sectors. If you’re interested in pursuing a career in textiles you might take a more design-led pathway or choose to be more craft-based. As a textile designer you might be creating patterns for woven and knitted items such as fabrics, rugs and other upholstery type products or creating printed or embroidered designs to be applied to the surface of fabrics. You could be using high-end cutting edge technology and computer aided design to create these designs and working for big companies, fashion houses or agencies. If you’re interested in creating one-off bespoke items and taking your design through into the production stage you may be more suited to craft-based work. Textile designers or makers need to be highly creative and artistic and have a good grasp of current trends within the fashion, home, stationery and interior markets. Overall the opportunities are diverse, there’s lots of different paths to follow, it’s a great Industry to work in!

Mentored by - Charlotte Liddle